10 Radically Innovative College Programs

The next 20 years of American innovation will be shaped by these 10 cutting-edge science and engineering programs. But before they change the world, these undergraduates will have to finish their homework.

Oct 1, 2009

BEYOND BOOK LEARNING

Engineering

Olin College

What's the best way to learn about robotics and agricultural engineering? (a) Read about it in a textbook; or (b) build a robot tractor? If you answered (b), then you're thinking like an Olin student. The Needham, Mass., college opened its doors in 2002, thanks to a $460 million grant from the F.W. Olin Foundation. Its mission: Revamp engineering education, which critics say has become more academic and less practical in recent decades. "Instead of spending two years learning the theory, you start using it in projects right away," says Katerina Blazek, a student from the inaugural class. Olin has an enrollment of fewer than 300, allowing the school to offer a full-tuition scholarship to every successful applicant.

Last year, through the school's Senior Consulting Program for Engineering (SCOPE), 13 companies paid $50,000 each to hire teams of Olin seniors. SCOPE projects included a model solar-powered house and the aforementioned tractor, which sprays orchards automatically.

Looking ahead: Olin's project-based curriculum is as real-world as it gets. As technological innovation and problem solving become increasingly precious commodities, Olin grads may lead the way in transforming how engineering gets taught--and practiced.

GAMING THE SYSTEM

Game Culture and Technology

University of California, Irvine
Computer and video gaming these days is analogous to cinema in the 1920s--a growing industry thriving on new technology and starving for creative talent. UC Irvine's interdisciplinary program looks beyond the basic skills provided by courses in programming and computer graphics. World Building, for example, teaches students how to "produce works that project themselves as fully realized alternate realities." Projects include a multimodal role-playing game that integrates 3D graphics with the Internet and location-aware cellphones, as well as a Web-based game that will interact with a $5.5 million dinosaur exhibit at Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana, Calif. "Imagine a movie tie-in game for a blockbuster," is how recent graduate Alex Szeto describes it. "Except the game doesn't stink."

Looking ahead: As the cultural influence of video games grows, UC Irvine will be a breeding ground for the medium's auteurs, producing designers who innovate technologically and artistically.

MYSTERIES OF THE DEEP

Underwater Crime Scene Investigation

Florida State University, Panama City
The goals of CSI are the same everywhere--collect evidence to figure out what happened--but you can't dust for prints underwater. FSU PC's program teaches deep-sea detective skills. "We get called out pretty often to work with law enforcement, and we bring our students with us," says professor Mike Zinszer. That doesn't just mean diving for bodies--it can be investigating a plane crash or finding engineering flaws in a collapsed bridge.

In April, students had the chance to work on NASA missions at the Aquarius undersea laboratory off the coast of Key Largo.

Looking ahead: As crime evolves, so must crime fighters. Many graduates of FSU's program go on to work for law enforcement agencies such as the FBI. But as certified "science divers," they also will take on emerging challenges, such as tracking down environmental criminals who spill oil and dump garbage on coral reefs.

MACHINE DREAMERS

Robotics

Carnegie Mellon University

CMU's Robotics Institute in Pittsburgh is the world's biggest academic robotics research center. Undergrads minoring in the subject take courses such as Introduction to Robotics, in which the weekly homework assignment is to build LEGO robots demonstrating that week's concepts. "If the robot works, they get their A," says Howie Choset, who teaches the course. But the real fun happens in the research labs, where students work on projects such as a slithering snake robot for search-and-rescue missions.

Students also participate in a dazzling array of competitions, such as the RoboCup, which pits teams of Sony AIBO robot dogs against each other in soccer. The highlight of the year is probably the Mobot Races at the CMU Spring Carnival. "Mobot is more important than the football team," Choset says.

Looking ahead: "Undergrads leave thinking robots are everywhere," Choset says. That may not be true yet--but thanks to these students, it could be.

Famous Alum: Daniel H. Wilson

Author, How to Survive a Robot Uprising, and Popular Mechanics's resident roboticist. Graduated: 2005

ECO ON THE INSIDE

Green Interior Design

Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design

Powering office buildings accounts for 36 percent of the United States' energy consumption. While it might be useful to slap on a solar panel and stuff in extra insulation, the whole building--including the interior--has to be carefully thought out for it to be truly "green." That means everything from taking advantage of natural light to avoiding certain types of paint that release volatile organic compounds. In addition to taking classes in green design, students in the program create models in every course using the U.S. Green Building Council's rating system.

Looking ahead: Green design is going from marginal to mainstream. According to the U.S. Green Building Council, more than 4700 projects are under construction. Rocky Mountain students tackle real-world work--such as revamping a historic office building in nearby Denver--while still in school. In the future, the program's grads will lead efforts to reduce the environmental impact of new construction.

INTELLIGENT DESIGN

Engineering Psychology

Tufts University
Engineers build gadgets; psychologists study the human mind. Put them together and you get the field of engineering psychology--also known as "human factors"--which promotes easy-to-use technology designed with the strengths and limitations of its human users as priorities. "It's the people person's engineering," says 2005 grad Allison Yale, "which may be why it is one of the few engineering programs in the country with more women than men."

When the Medford, Mass., school started the program in the late 1960s, it was focused on consumer products--cofounder John Kreifeldt helped develop the Reach angled toothbrush in 1975. Now, computer interfaces and medical devices dominate. Recent graduate Sara Waxberg's senior project used video game play to train surgeons to use a controller for maneuvering in a 3D space inside the body while gazing at a 2D screen.

Looking ahead: The field of engineering psychology is expanding from ergonomic improvements on existing devices to designs for better lifesaving technologies. Yale now works for a small human--factors consulting company on medical devices, such as heart-rate monitors, that can reduce human error through improved design.

READY FOR LAUNCH

Aeronautics and Astronautics

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

If you're looking for future astronauts, MIT is a good place to start. One-third of the humans who have walked on the moon are grads of this program. Coursework is hands-on: Students at the Cambridge, Mass., school conduct wind-tunnel tests on sailboats, build autonomous "rover" robots and use a driving simulator to design cockpit displays.

Beyond the normal coursework, students pursue extracurricular projects. For instance, the Mars Gravity Biosatellite is a collaborative effort with Georgia Tech. The satellite is designed to carry lab mice in low Earth orbit for 90 days to explore the long-term effects of simulated Martian gravity on mammals.

Looking Ahead: Space exploration--and developing the technologies to support it--is the program's major

goal, but grads will also play key roles in the development of advanced transportation and communication technologies.

Famous Alum: Buzz Aldrin (MIT)

Apollo 11 astronaut, second man on the moon and founder of Starcraft Boosters. Graduated: 1963

PLANNING FOR THE WORST

Disaster Science and Management

Louisiana State University

"We were doing this long before Katrina," says John Pine, director of LSU's Disaster Science program. FEMA started urging universities to teach emergency preparedness back in 1994, and now every state except Maine, Montana and Vermont either has or is developing a program. LSU's started in 2000, and focuses on terrorism, biochemical hazards--think of all the rail and oil pipelines sprouting from the Gulf of Mexico--and, yes, planning for severe weather. The interdisciplinary program

covers everything from engineering and architecture (the Hurricane Engineering course) to international politics to psychology (Family Stress Management).

"Service learning" is a big priority at LSU, and Katrina provided an obvious catalyst, Pine says. Students from a landscape architecture class spent a semester coming up with a downtown plan for the storm-ravaged city of Lake Charles, La.

Looking ahead: As communities face years of rebuilding--carefully planned to soften the impact of future storms--LSU graduates are being snapped up by local, state and federal agencies, as well as by private industry. The result should be a Louisiana--and an America--better prepared for the next big one.

DRIVING INNOVATION

Transportation Design

Art Center College of Design
BMW Z4, Porsche Boxster, Toyota Prius ... the list of cars that have sprung from the minds of Art Center grads is long and impressive, even when you include the Ford Pinto. Long recognized as the premier place to learn car design--and make contacts to get a job with a big automaker--the Pasadena, Calif., program is evolving to include other forms of transportation. Recent student projects include an elevated pedestrian transit system for the Las Vegas strip and an automated rapid-transit bus.

For a recent project funded by automotive systems giant Johnson Controls, students brainstormed car interiors for disabled and elderly drivers in the year 2015. Working with gerontologists, graphic designers and accessibility specialists, five teams produced prototype car interiors with swiveling seats, simplified controls and easy entry--a peek at the future for aging baby boomers.

Looking ahead: The automotive industry is due for a major restructuring in the next decade, and the role of the designer will inevitably change, says associate program chair Geoff Wardle. "Coming up with cool-looking products isn't enough anymore. You have to balance passion with responsibility." Students at Art Center are learning to think about safety, energy consumption and what happens to materials after a vehicle is scrapped.

It's an international studies program for the post-9/11 era. "The name kind of grabs your attention," says Ben Wheat, a 2005 grad of the Columbus school. "It's unbelievably relevant." Wheat took courses on terrorism and weapons of mass destruction; current offerings include Rebuilding Failed & Weak States. The program's biggest selling point, he says, is the teachers. Electives are taught by professors from throughout the university--a plant pathologist teaches bioterrorism, and a linguistics expert explains how to make and break codes. And this year, the Introduction to Intelligence course is being taught by a CIA agent who is spending a year as officer-in-residence with the program.

For hands-on experience, the National Air and Space Intelligence Center is conveniently situated an hour down the road--within easy field trip distance--at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

Looking ahead: For better or worse, security is a growth industry these days. While some graduates go on to work for federal agencies such as the FBI, many find private-sector jobs. Wheat, for example, is working for a defense contractor that provides Arabic and Pashtun speakers for government contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Students from Olin College's SCOPE engineering program work on a robotic tractor for ROCONA, an agricultural technology company.

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